Hasan Ali, Rizwan put off Wesley Madhevere scare as Pakistan clinch the T20I series

IPL 2021 | CSK vs RCB: What Experts said as Jadeja hands Chennai top spot

MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings put a halt to Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore’s winning streak after thumping them by 69 runs in Mumbai on Sunday. Chasing a stiff total of 193, RCB were restricted to 122/9 in 20 overs. RCB did have a decent start to the chase when Devdutt Padikkal and Kohli put up 44 runs for the first wicket, though majority of runs were scored by Padikkal during the course. The two stitched a stand of 44 before captain Kohli departed while trying to work a short ball, moving away from him through the covers off Sam Curran. The right-handed batsman just managed to edge the ball and Dhoni took an easy catch behind the stumps. Kohli’s departure was followed by a flurry of wickets in the middle, courtesy some brilliant piece of bowling and fielding from Ravindra Jadeja who had a gala time at Wankhede Stadium against RCB on Sunday. The left-arm spinner first scalped the wicket of Washington Sundar who came in at number three after inviting him to go for a glory hit on a length ball. Sundar went for the slog and took the aerial route trying to clear the fence over deep mid-wicket boundary but didn’t time his shot well and was caught by Ruturaj Gaikwad for 7 off 11. Jadeja followed Sundar’s wicket with Glenn Maxwell’s dismissal. With the kind of form that Maxwell has been in this IPL, he would have thoroughly dominated CSK bowling attack. But Dhoni played the perfect trump card and handed the ball to Jadeja when the Aussie batsman was in. The spinner totally deceived him and rattled the woodwork behind Maxwell to send him packing for 22 off 15. The Indian all-rounder didn’t just stop here and was involved in a couple of more wickets. In the 10th over of the innings, AB de Villiers tried to rotate the strike after guiding a length ball towards the covers with soft hands and called for the run. Jadeja who was stationed inside the circle quickly ran towards the ball and threw it straight to the batting hitting the bull’s eye to see Dan Christian depart for just 1 run. The left-hander was not over yet. He probably scalped the wicket of one of the most important batsmen of the RCB line up, ABD. The former South Africa captain was beaten in the turn on a length ball that was pitched around the middle stump channel and went through to clean him up for 4 runs off 9 deliveries. Jadeja eventually returned with figures of 3/13 in 4 overs. Earlier, after winning the toss, CSK opted to bat first and had a solid start to the proceedings after Faf du Plessis and Gaikwad put 74 runs on the board for the first wicket. Gaikwad though departed for 33 but Du Plessis continued with his form to notch up yet another half-century in the competition. Suresh Raina who walked in at number three also chipped in with 24 off 18. But the real drama was unleashed by Jadeja who smacked an unbeaten 62 off 28 that included five maximums and four boundaries in the process. The left-hander had a struggling start and took some time to get his eye in before unfolding an unforgettable knock. RCB paid the price for dropping him twice when he was on 1 and 2 respectively. Jadeja totally turned the course of the innings in the last over where he managed to gather 37 runs in six deliveries off Harshal Patel. The aggressive batsman began the over with four maximums including a free-hit. He then ran a couple and concluded the over with another six and a four. Patel who is the purple cap holder gave away 51 runs in 4 overs and took three wickets. Captains' corner RCB seamer Harshal Patel had gone for 37 runs in the last over but captain Virat Kohli has said that the team management will continue to back him. "You have to look at it the right way. I feel this is a positive feedback for our side. A performance like this, it is good to get this out early on in the tournament. Our start was decent enough. One guy completely beat us. Today his skill was there for everyone to see. He (Harshal) bowled well and we will continue to back him," he said. Kohli lauded Jadeja for his all-round performance and said that he is pretty happy to see him perform with both bat and ball and in the field. "His (Jadeja) ability has been there for everyone to see. I am very happy to see him perform with the bat, ball and on the field. After two months, he will be back playing for India and it is always a pleasure to see your premier all-rounder do well with the bat. When he plays well and is confident, it lets out many opportunities," he added. CSK captain MS Dhoni also praised Jaedja for his brilliant show and suggested that he is someone who has the ability to turn the game on its head alone. "He's (Jadeja) somebody who can change the game on his own and we have seen that significant change with the bat and in tj bowling as well. It's good to give him that extra opportunity, the extra few balls where he can express himself. It's also important that the individual grabs the chance when you take a decision like that and he's done that so far.” Talking about the bowling, Dhoni said that the bowlers have found it difficult to bowl against the left-handed batsmen with the slog. “Also from a strategy point the bowler's have found it slightly more difficult to contain the left handed batsman with the slog. In that way it also helps us a bit. You can't predict the quantum of win. We were also pondering whether to bat or bowl first. Heat is also a factor here. We've played a lot of cricket here. Whether the groundsmen have time to prepare the wicket, it's still a good wicket," Dhoni said. The former India captain further added that the track had something to offer to the spinners. "I felt the spinners had something up their sleeve if they bowled consistently in the right areas. You can play with the field and put extra pressure on the batsman. I felt that the extra few runs jadeja scored in the last over.. that really helps because we were looking to go close to a par score 160-170," he added. Experts' Views Commentator Harsha Bhogle lavished praise on Jadeja and hailed him for the match-winning effort. Boria Majumdar had a small complaint from Jadeja. Boria missed Jadeja's sword dance but he too hailed the performance from the all-rounder. Majumdar praised the foundation laid by Faf and Suresh Raina in the beginning of the innings. While Faf completed his fifty, Raina was among some runs. CSK's Imran Tahir was invoked in a runout after he removed Kyle Jameison with a direct hit. Joy Bhattacharjya made a brilliant observation about the act. CSK for the first time in the history of IPL failed to make a place for themselves in the playoffs in the IPL 2020. Mentioning about the previous edition Bhattacharjya said that it seems that the MS Dhoni-led side would turn the fortunes for themselves in this season. Ben Jones applauded Jadeja for the kind of performance he had unleashed against RCB. Jones said that the left-handed cricketer had won the match for CSK single-handily. RCB will now face Delhi Capitals in Ahmedabad on Tuesday while CSK will lock horns with Mumbai Indians in Delhi on Saturday.

IPL 2021 | CSK vs RCB: Superman Ravindra Jadeja drives Super Kings' thrashing of Royal Challengers

Riding on a superstar performance from Ravindra Jadeja who could do no wrong on the day, the Chennai Super Kings decimated the Royal Challengers Bangalore and leapfrogged to the top of the points table. The win— their fourth in five contests this year shows a remarkable comeback by MS Dhoni and his men after facing an embarrassing departure from the tournament without making it to the playoffs last year. Virat Kohli’s men were in control of the game for a major part of the first innings but as the Super Kings came hard at them, they crumbled under pressure to remind both their critics and fans if their older version will come back this season as well. Here, we’ll analyse the best and the worst performances of the contest between the Super Kings and the Royal Challengers. Hits Ravindra Jadeja If ever there was a debate around who is the MVP of the Chennai Super Kings in the ongoing and past few seasons, it was put down to rest by Ravindra Jadeja in quite a fashion on Sunday evening in Mumbai. Jadeja showed promise of turing a corner with the bat last year but poor bowling hurt the Super Kings last year as they were embarrassingly knocked out of the race to the playoff. Come this season, Jadeja has come to the party with the ball and picked many crucial wickets before turning up in the contest against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He did not start off in a dominating fashion against the Virat Kohli’s men but by the time he finished his quota of four overs, commentator Pumelolo Mbangwa was exclaiming the list of achievements he had ticked. He walked out to bat ahead of Sam Curran and skipper MS Dhoni when the Super Kings were on the verge of letting go of the advantage of having wickets in hand during the middle phase. He struggled through the early part of his innings and could muster only 26 runs from the first 21 balls. However, his best was yet to come and the Royal Challengers could not see it coming. Virat Kohli had reasons for being confident at that point in the game as chasing has been easier at the Wankhede Stadium and also the Super Kings were just 154 runs at the end of the 19th over. Jadeja has been known for twirling his bat like a sword after reaching a landmark with the bat. Sadly for the Royal Challengers and Hrashal Patel, today, he brought the transformation of his bat into sword a bit early and demolished him to 37-run over. Harshal started his over with a cutter that Jadeja waited on to dispatch while two failures in executing yorkers on the next two deliveries were dismissed from his presence as well. Having conceded 19 runs of his first two legal deliveries, Patel would have felt the weight of the earth upon him and delivered a slower short ball. Jadeja was in the mood and smashed Patel with all his might and what was looking like an under-par score was taken up to a mammoth 191 runs on the back of a 29-ball 62 runs with the bat. However, a target of 192 runs was not completely out of the reach of a batting line up comprising Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell. Also, Deddvutt Padikkal has shown enough of his talent to make the RCB look like a formidable batting unit and he was at it once again smashing Deepak Chahar and Sam Curran to all parts of the ground. Dhoni asked Jadeja to bowl from the seventh over albeit with the presence of a left-hander in the form of Washington Sundar in the middle. Having batted for a considerable amount of time, Jadeja knew the surface was holding off the balls and when Washington tried to dispatch him out of the ground, he held back the pace along with pulling his length back. The next man in Glenn Maxwell has been the man in form for the RCB this season but he too could not overpower ‘Sir’ Jadeja today. He was castled while attempting to do the undoable task of attacking him on the day when nothing could go wrong for him. Notably, Jadeja was dropped on zero by Dan Christian when he forced a pull shot out of desperation. The RCB paid badly for the mistake, but there was no return of favour from the Saurashtra all-rounder as the Australian all-rounder was sent back to the pavilion with a direct hit which has become a signature of Jadeja in the field. A 29-ball 62 with the bat, two wickets of Maxwell and Washington, a run out of Christian were already enough performance from Jadeja to dent the Royal Challengers. However, he was not satisfied with his performance up until his next over and produced a beauty to deceive the jewel of RCB—AB de Villiers with a one that drifted in towards him before turning past his bat and hitting the stumps. With the wicket of de Villiers, Jadeja had reduced the contest between the two sides who were looking to keep their winning momentum going into a personal contest that he won with flying colours. After his heroics with the ball against the Rajasthan Royals in the last game, former England captain Michael Vaughan had expressed disbelief over not seeing Jadeja’s name in the category of Indian players with A+ contract. It appears as if Jadeja too has taken this lightly and turning the heat on. Faf du Plessis Faf du Plessis made his IPL debut some nine years ago and he has only risen through the ranks with each passing year. His growth hit a speed breaker last year as the Super Kings missed the old reliable du Plessis who could provide them solidity as well as explosive innings time after time. He did not start the current season well and was dismissed for zero against the Delhi Capitals. He put his head down and battled to regain his touch in the next game against the Punjab Kings and has never looked back since. He was back to his best in the game against the Knight Riders and the contest against the RCB showed the glimpses of old du Plessis who could charge down the wicket against pacers to hit them over the top. He started supremely, hitting a full-pitched delivery from Mohammed Siraj to off side to get the Super Kings going. He waited for opportunities on the next few deliveries and deposited Siraj over long-on to make it look like an easier wicket to bat on than it actually was. Two boundaries off Kyle Jamieson in the fourth over and the Super Kings were moving along with the scoreboard. Fall of Gaikwad slowed him down a bit as the baton of taking the game to the bowling attack was passed onto Suresh Raina. He brought his back to back fifty off 40 balls and his comeback into form augurs well for the Super Kings who have made a resounding comeback in this season so far after facing an unceremonious exit last year. Imran Tahir Imran Tahir has been rated as one of the most potent wicket-takers in the Chennai Super Kings camp albeit the four-overseas player rule does not allow MS Dhoni to play him more often. He came back to the playing XI only at the expense of an injured Moeen Ali and boy, didn’t he make it count against the Royal Challengers. He was introduced right after Ravindra Jadeja in the eighth over against the duo of de Villiers and Maxwell and he made sure the tap was not open from the other end. He yielded only five runs from his first over and the pressure got to Maxwell who got dismissed compensating for a tight over from the leg spinner against Jadeja. Tahir was at at the batsmen with his box full of tricks and bowled another over for a mere four runs. The success came in the third over when he defeated Harshal Patel who could not read a quicker one that zipped past his bat while attempting to pull. He also got an outside edge off Jamieson but could not take a wicket. A sharp catch from Raina in the fourth over handed him the second success of the game. Although Jadeja got the majority of big Royal Challengers wickets, Tahir’s role was instrumental in putting a squeeze on an otherwise flamboyant batting line up. Flops Harshal Patel Harshal Patel has had some special homecoming to the Royal Challengers side after the Delhi Capitals traded him before the auction earlier this year. He was coming into the game against the Super Kings as the purple cap holder and also established his credentials with three big wickets of Suresh Raina, du Plessis and Rayudu. However, things started to unravel for the right-armer when Ravindra Jadeja waited in his batting crease and put all his eight and quality against him. The 20th over he came on to bowl as the last over of his four-over quota turned out to be the joint-most expansive over in the 14 year-long and running history of the IPL. His cutters were picked off early by Jadeja while the execution of yorkers was wayward, to say the least. He would call himself luck for Jadeja to miss a chance to hit him for six sixes in an over. Patel must have enjoyed the laurels of getting too many wickets in the death overs when batsmen don’t put a big price tag on their wickets but he will have to digest the failures of batsmen getting the better of him as well o some days, like the one against the Super Kings. Virat Kohli Virat Kohli and his team’s dream run in the IPL 2021 led to social media users making fun of the year 2021, and it was always a case of them wondering that how long before the real RCB turn up in IPL. The day finally came and it all unravelled against the Chennai Super Kings. The Royal Challengers had regained control of the game after a cluster of wickets but Harshal Patel squandered all of that momentum in a span of six balls. Kohli should have gone to Harshal Patel and calmed the nerves down to help the bowler in the wake of the brutal onslaught but that aspect of his captaincy went missing. Also, the onus of providing a rollicking start to the Royal Challengers was on his and Padikkal’s shoulder in attempting to chase a big total. He got going with a freebie from Deepak Chahar but could not go beyond the third over and was flummoxed by Sam Curran. The Royal Challengers needed their skipper Kohli, who has been a chase master in all his career to stand up tall against the Super Kings. His departure put pressure on the remaining batsmen and failures for both de Villiers and Maxwell meant the men in red and gold were behind the game right from the start of the chase. The Super Kings would be elated at making it four out of four wins after making a poor start to the tournament this year. Any weather of the sides of IPL would point out many chinks in their armour but the team has found ways to overcome all of that and now stand in a good position to qualify for a coveted playoff position. On the other hand, the Royal Challengers would like to move on from the contest against the Super Kings as one bad day in the office. However, they would be disappointed for letting the game drift away from their grasp.

IPL 2021 | PBKS vs KKR: Familiar territory for Morgan to get Knights back on track in Motera

For the maestro that Eoin Morgan is with his strategy of relentless attack, the team hasn’t lived up to the potential as a batting unit, neither as a bowling unit. The fact that Morgan himself has let him down with the bat is also a huge problem. But with the tournament now moving to more familiar territory for the English captain at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, where he and his spent a lot of time playing the 5 matches T20I series and losing it narrowly 2-3. For Punjab Kings, though it would again be a fresh place to begin freshly and most importantly carry forward from their victory against the defending champions Mumbai Indians. Punjab in captain KL Rahul has an in-form opener and also with Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle showcasing the grit that they have, it can only get better for the men in flashy reds. Morgan could utilise the experience of Motera Eoin Morgan with his experience of leading the English side at Motera could bring out plans and matchups that could help the Knight Riders bounce back. The problem at the moment for the team is its captain not clicking nor are its openers. Shubman Gill, in his attempt to accelerate, has rather derailed his form and that of the team as well. Russell, who looked tidy in the previous two games, failed to carry the form in the last game and similar was the problem with Dinesh Karthik. These are the guys who form the backbone of the men in purple and if they are not in form, it is hard for the team to do well. With the balance that the Knights have got, they can’t afford to bring in Lockie Ferguson and let either Russell or Narine remain out of the side, thus it becomes all the more important that Russell as a bowler is utilised more than his ability to bowl wide yorkers at the death. The likes of Prasidh Krishna and Shivam Mavi need to be utilised to their best as well. The resources are going to remain the same, it is the way they are being utilised that would matter for Knight Riders. With David Hussey predicting that Shubman Gill is going to be one of the highest run-getters this season, maybe this is going to be the game for his and KKR’ turn around. Punjab needs to go horses for courses The Punjab team seemed to have gelled well as a bowling unit in their last two games. As a batting unit, they have mostly been fine. The Motera wicket is known to produce high scoring games and thus the likes of Gayle and Rahul could utilise their form over there. The fact that Joe Root and Jofra Archer, even Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur were able to cause some problems with their pace in the T20I series between India and England, fast bowlers might be given preference by the Punjab unit. The team could bring in either Riley Meredith or Jhye Richardson in place of Fabian Allen as in any case they would have the spin options of Ravi Bishnoi and Deepak Hooda, in case the pitch decides to turn. Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders: Match Details Match Number-21 Date and Time: April 26, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Motera Broadcast and Lve Stream: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report With a high score of 224 and a low score of 124, the wickets at Motera have a range that wouldn’t let anybody pick a perfect score to defend. But mostly in the above 150 zone, the pitches at the newly built stadium offer a good cricketing ground, competitive enough for the fans to enjoy. The pitch though has mostly remained a bit tacky on the bounce side of it and thus offers the chasing team a bit of advantage if there is dew as it makes the bounce even later on. Weather and Toss With temperatures soaring above 35, kt is not going to be easy for the players to adjust. There would be dew but not much of it. Since it is the first game at the ground, the best bet for the captaining winning the toss would be to field first to be on the safer side of things. Team News Punjab Kings Nicholas Pooran has not been in that great a touch and just to make good use of the conditions, Dawid Malan who has done well at this ground in his last outing with a 68 run knock, could be trusted with duties at number four. Similarly, a fast bowler could replace Fabian Allen as well to make things even for the team and in accordance with the requirements of the ground. Strongest XI KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Dawid Malan, Deepak Hooda, Moises Henriques, Shahrukh Khan, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Riley Meredith, Arshdeep Singh Kolkata Knight Riders For Kolkata to make any change, it’s not an easy task. Going with how Eoin Morgan operates, it is hard to see him changing the side. The most likely change could be bringing in Harbhajan Singh because of his better approach against left-handers especially Gayle whom he has got out several times in the IPL. If Harbhajan comes in, Sunil Narine could make way for Lockie Ferguson as well. Strongest XI Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Harbhajan Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Lockie Ferguson Dream XI Predictions/ Fantasy XI Suggestions Lokesh Rahul (c/wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nitish Rana, Shahrukh Khan, Andre Russell (vc), Deepak Hooda, Pat Cummins, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi

SL vs BAN | 1st Test: Run feast in Pallekele ends in a draw after rain plays spoilsport

The first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Pallekele ended in a draw after the final day of the game was curtailed by rain on Sunday. Bangladesh who batted first in what was a run feast at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium posted 541/7 (D) in the first innings. Opener Tamim Iqbal struck 90 while Najmul Hossain and captain Mominul Haque notched up individual tons during the course. While Hossain scored 163, Haque got out for 127. Apart from them, Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das also struck individual fifties for the side. Vishwa Fernando was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka in the innings after he scalped four wickets for 96 in 35 overs. The home side then rode on some scintillating batting from Dimuth Karunaratane who scored 244 and Dhananjaya de Silva who went on to score 166 during the course to put 648/8 in reply. Lahiru Thirimane also chipped in with a half-century for Sri Lanka while Taskin Ahmed bagged three wickets for Bangladesh and Taijul Islam picked up a couple. The hosts took a first innings lead of 107 runs. Bangladesh then came out to bat in the second innings on Day 5. The Lankan team did pick up two early wickets but opener Tamim showed his class and took on the bowlers to score 74* off 98. Fast bowler Suranga Lakmal had both the wickets to his name in the second innings before the match was halted by the rain and eventually ended as a draw. Karunaratne who was adjudged man of the match for his knock said that he had a struggling time in West Indies and wanted to score runs at home. “I had a very tough time in the West Indies, so I wanted to make the most of these conditions. We thought the wicket would have pace and bounce, but the conditions and heat made the pitch flat. Bangladesh batters also played really well,” he said. The encounter witnessed huge amounts of runs being scored and the Sri Lanka captain admitted that the track didn’t really have much to offer to the bowlers. “There was nothing much for the bowlers, it was a batting paradise. There was no threat for the batsmen in the second innings as well, nothing much we could have done on this kind of a wicket. We need something in the pitch for the bowlers (in the next game), because we need 20 wickets to win,” he added. Bangladesh skipper Mominul credited the team for their performance. “It was a team performance, everyone contributed really well, especially Shanto. Tamim and Mushy also played crucial knocks and the bowlers, especially Taskin and the spinners, tried really hard,” he said. The second and final Test will begin on April 29 at the same venue.